1. Field of the Invention
The present invention has to do with a convenience food product comprising a microwavable pasta packaged in a container which provides an evenly cooked product in a microwave oven. In a preferred embodiment, the product further comprises an improved hydratable sauce which tends not to form clumps when water or milk is added and requires minimal stirring.
2. Description of Related Art
Microwave cooking is frequently associated with uneven heating and boiling over of liquid contents. One of the ways of minimizing these problems is to cook for a brieftime, stir, cook again, stir again, and so forth until the cooking is complete. Consumer preference, however, is to cook the product once and remove it from the microwave oven in a condition that is ready to eat.
Presently available instant or quick cooking pasta and noodles (pasta products) are associated with inferior texture and hydration characteristics. Most of these products are made by extrusion cooking or cooking subsequent to extrusion by immersion in boiling water and/or steam cooking. Extrusion cooking, however, results in deterioration of the pasta texture due to the impact of heat and high shear on the protein matrix prior to and during extrusion. When these products are rehydrated, the texture mushy or soft, not "al dente". The extrusion cooking process also is costly, requiring sophisticated equipment and control systems. The pasta component of the present invention can be manufactured utilizing less sophisticated, more readily available equipment.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,251,694 describes a pre-cooked macaroni wherein the dough is made in a conventional manner and the fresh pasta is completely pre-cooked and dried at 300-700.degree. F. for about 3 to 9 minutes. The product, however, is expensive because of high processing costs and is limited to pasta shapes that can be extruded with thin walls and still maintain their shape.
According to U.S. Pat. No. 3,615,677, a rapid cooking pasta is made by extruding the dough and drying to a moisture content of less than 12% either with humidified air for 12-48 hours or at a temperature from about 150-300 .degree. F. for about 5-120 minutes to at least partially gelatinize the starch. Corn flour in an amount from about 45-85% is a critical ingredient because it serves as a binder and it masks the harsh bitter flavor of soy materials. (Another critical ingredient is soy flour in an amount of 15-40%). The specification provides that for high temperature drying the gelatinization of the starch can be effected prior to, during, or after extrusion and that gelatinization should be at least about 10%, with best results at about 10-75%. The product, however, has poor structural integrity, a soft mushy structure and the harsh bitter flavor of soy material is not effectively masked.
Several other patents describe pasta products which can be rehydrated quickly but they require complete pre-cooking during the manufacturing process. These include U.S. Pat. No. 2,704,723 wherein the fresh pasta is immersed in boiling water before drying, and U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,044,165, 4,394,397 and 4,540,592 wherein combinations of heat and mechanical stress are used during extrusion processes to fully pre-cook the pasta products. All of these products suffer from poor textural qualities and lack of "al dente" texture.
A method of coating pasta for providing a firm texture is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,144,727. The coating composition is a dried coagulated egg white and an edible oil.
Presently available hydratable food products require stirring when water or milk is added in order to disperse the dry particles in the liquid before cooking and stirring also is required during cooking. For example, in a microwave application the product must be removed from the oven and stirred thoroughly at least once before it is completely cooked. Then is stirred again following cooking.
When thick food products such as hydrated sauces are cooked with other ingredients, the thickening agents, starches, gums and the like, usually cause lumps unless vigorous stirring is applied during cooking. This problem is more manifested if the hydrated sauces are prepared with carbohydrate ingredients such as pasta, potatoes or rice. These problems are substantially minimized when sauces according to the present invention are employed.
The present invention overcomes the problems associated with the prior art by providing a microwave container having a combination of geometric features which enhance the efficiency and uniformity of microwave cooking by taking into account the dielectric properties of the liquid food products being cooked and the geometry of the container in relation to the microwave wavelength. The design also causes the liquid contents to cook with boiling while preventing boil over.
The drawbacks of previously known methods and products are also overcome by the new pasta manufacturing method of the present invention and the new pasta products produced thereby. We have now discovered a method of drying freshly extruded pasta by toasting (i.e. using heated ambient air without added moisture) pasta under controlled conditions to prepare a product having excellent appearance and texture with superior cooked yield and short cook times.
The method of making the pasta products of the invention has lower initial capital equipment requirements and lower ongoing manufacturing cost attributed to shorter drying times. The invention also permits manipulation of the processing conditions to obtain a wide range of pasta densities and textures from soft to firm. Accordingly, the pasta products of the invention can be made to have the "al dente" texture of conventional pasta or a softer or firmer texture if desired.
All percentages and ratios set forth herein are by weight/weight unless designated otherwise. All percentages of ingredients used in recipes to prepare the pasta products of the invention are based on the total weight of ingredients prior to the addition of water to make the dough.